Bibhu Mohapatra
BY STAFF REPORTER
TORONTO
Famed fashion designer, who is known for his celebrity clientele, be it First Lady Michelle Obama, Actress Angelina Jolie or even the B-town star Deepika Padukone, Bibhu Mohapatra will be displaying his exquisite fashion collection for the first time in Canada.
The collection will be displayed as part of ANOKHI’s 13th Annual Anniversary Event, which will be taking place downtown Toronto on August 25.
From Orissa in India, Mohapatra was taught to sew by his mother. He honed his skills putting together outfits for his sister. He worked with J Mendel until 2008, when he parted ways to set up his own label. The international fashion community has acclaimed Mohapatra’s work. His designs have graced catwalks internationally and have been featured in New York Magazine, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal and Marie Claire and his ready-to-wear collections are currently sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Lane Crawford.
“Today, he has become known for interesting graphics and dressed-up daywear. I think his greatest talent is in designing glamorous clothes to wear before 6 pm,” says Lauren Sherman, contributor to Instyle.com.
Arjun, Singer Songwriter
The Annual 13th ANOKHI Anniversary event will also be attended by many other notable dignitaries including upcoming Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari, prominent film-maker Deepa Mehta, Celebrity Chef, former Dragon of Dragon’s Den Vikram Vij and Singer Songwriter Arjun, among others.
The award show will be honouring regional, national and international success stories of South Asians from five different pillars – Business, Entertainment, Media, Fashion and Crusader.
“All of these five pillars are extremely important for an individual,” says Raj Girn, CEO and President of ANOKHI Media. “If you carefully look at the 5 pillars, you will realize they are aspects to 360-degree approach to them all. That is required for the best balance of a healthy human. The first is business. It is important to be an expert, to be in the know. The second, Media. The ability to communicate is essential. The third is Entertainment. You need to participate in the arts for the spiritual side to manifest. The fourth, Glamour. You can only give your best when you feel your best – physically, emotionally and mentally. The fifth, Crusader. The give back, people who understand that there is more to life than who they are, our collective energy being positive and aligned in the universe.”
A commemorative coffee table book will also be released at the event that will contain the shortlisted names of 30 success stories from the global community. Titled The ANOKHI List 2016, the coffee table book will be a keepsake that will immortalize the stories of these achievers. The process starts with asking for public nominations “Literally we get thousands of nominations and our committee (a combination of internal and external advisors) base the top 30 on a series of specific criteria. It is a very scientific process which takes us about 8 months,” says Girn who plans to release only 2500 copies of the book.
ANOKHI’s 13th Anniversary Awards and Entertainment Show is being held on Thursday, August 25 at 11 Polson Drive in Toronto.
